The lesser spotted blog

Clarence the Kudu. Please note that Kennedy is boycotting this photo as he thinks that Kudus are over-rated

I heard yesterday that my story ‘Next full moon we’ll release Juno’ has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth short story competition, which is very exciting. My publicist, Kennedy, is not that impressed because the story doesn’t feature Chihuahuas, but he may be biased. I have a very personal attachment to this story, which is associated both with pleasure and pain. The pleasure was watching an amazing adaptation of it as a play, pulled together by my daughter Joanna. She scripted and directed it with four actors – and it was really magical to see a story I’d written come to life like this. Whenever I say ‘a story I’d written’ I feel uncomfortable, because the more I write the more I feel that stories come to us, and we as writers/ actors or whatever just manifest them. What was wonderful to see how this same story, which was a gift from the great whatever, could be manifested so beautifully as a play – with all the nuances and subtleties offered by a live performance. The pain came when we were building a life size kudu puppet for the play. Joanna and I made up in enthusiasm for what we lacked in expertise, and the final result was pretty spectacular. But we were working to deadline, and in a last minute dash to the hardware store for an essential part, I chose to run under a tree branch because it seemed quicker than running round it. A few seconds later I picked myself off the pavement with concussion and whiplash, from which I am still suffering… my head had failed to clear the branch. Ah well… all in the name of art… For more on the Commonwealth competition, go to: www.commonwealthwriters.org